Utility chairs



Get. 2, 1956 M BAKALIC ET AL UTILITY CHAIRSl I5 Sheets-Sheet l FiledJuiy 29, 1952 z lll llllluw/ -PYwgw/ Oct. 2, 1956 M. BAKALIC ET AL.2,765,025

UTILITY CHAIRS Filed July 29, 1952 s sheets-sheet 2 L@ @WM UCL 2y 1956 MBAKALlc ET AL 2,765,025

UTILITY CHAIRS Filed July 29, 1952 3 Sheets-Shee't 3 Mei/1 /1 TOR/varUnited States Patent UTILITY CHAIRS Mary Bakalic and William H. Smyth,New York, N. Y.

Application July 29, 1952, Serial No. 301,527

2 Claims. (Cl. 155-188) This invention relates to utility chairs, andhas for its object to provide a chair which is specially adapted for useof an operative requiring handy reference to the tools necessary to beused in his or her handicraft.

The invention contemplates the combination with a chair of a drawer ordrawers suitable for holding the tools, like needles, thread, awls,pieces of cloth or leather, within reach of the operative, and when notfurther necessary, to close the drawers, in a manner so that the drawerstays closed, in the event the chair is moved or tilted.

The invention consists of the combination of a chair preferably having ahorizontal seat and four upright legs, two forward and two rearward,forming a pair of lateral legs on each side of the seat, to one side ofwhich a drawer is provided so that it normally rests below the seat ofthe chair, but which can be readily moved outwardly of the seat forpresenting the drawer in open posi` tion for access to its contents.Preferably, means are provided to hold the drawer in below seat orclosed position, or in open or exposed position, the former means tohold the drawer in closed position so that when the chair is tilted, thedrawer will stay closed, and the latter means to hold the drawer in openposition, so that its contents are always accessible.

Instead of one drawer, a plurality of drawers may be used, and in eachcase, the drawer must be so constructed that its movement will notinterfere with any part of the chair.

The invention will be further described, embodiments shown in thedrawings, and the invention will be nally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a vertical detail section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 3 showingone form of locking means;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment showing a metalchair;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section taken on line 8 8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a detail or fragmentary perspective view of a form of lockingmeans; and

Fig. 10 is a horizontal detail section of Fig. 7.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe various views.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figures 1 to 6, achair 10 of suitable design such as used for working purposes, having aseat 11 with four uprights or legs 12 held together by horizontal braces13, and having a back rest 14, is generally known.

'f p r`2,765,025 Patented Oct. l2, 1956` ricer The improvement consistsin the provision of drawers 15 arranged in pairs, each being pivoted atone corner 16, by a suitable hinge to a leg 12 of the chair 10, and eachhaving a curved front 17, so shaped to permit freedom of movement of thefront of the drawer, in respect to the leg on the same side at which thecorner of the drawer is pivoted to its leg. Each drawer 15 as usual hasa bottom 13, sidewalls 19, a front wall 17 and a rear wall 20. In theembodiment of Fig. 1, the corner 16 formed by a side wall 19 and therear wall 20 at its outside is formed of a right angled indent 21 (Fig.5) to embrace the rear leg 12 of the chair. At a corner 22 of thedrawer, a leaf of a hinge 23 is applied, with the other leaf secured tothe leg 12, the pintle 25 forming the pivotal connection. This angularformation obtains a good fitting of that corner of the drawer with theleg 12. The curved front 17 of the drawer 15, is shaped to comply withthe circle of curvature, having its center at the pintle and its radiusextending, as shown by the arrow R, which enables the front of thedrawer to pass by, without obstruction, the front leg 12, and permitsthe entire drawer contents to be exposed, when the drawer is in the openposition as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, the full line showing theclosed position of the drawer. Preferably, a pair of drawers, or twolpairs of drawers, are arranged below the seat of the chair. When thesedrawers are closed they are entirely within the scope of the seat of thechair, and when they are entirely open, their entire interior surface isexposed. (Fig. 5.) Of course, the upper pair of drawers may be entirelyopen, and the lower pair partially open.

The curved front walls forming the front of the chair below the seat,provide a general V-shaped space, which enables the feet of the operatorto have room for movement instead of being blocked, were the front wallsstraight and extended to the front legs of the chair.

In Fig. 6, a friction locking device is shown. It is applied to thebottom of drawer and its underlying brace 13. A recess 41 is provided inthe drawer, and a suitable metal or the like casing 42 is inserted inthe recess 41. This Vcasing has a centrally disposed spring holdingbutton 43, upon whichl a spring 44 is seated, the other end of which hasits end convolution seated on a ball 45, held by an inwardly inclinedilange 46, to enable a part of the ball 45 to project out of thecircumferential ange 46. The brace is provided with a recess 47, and aplate 4S is secured to the brace by screws 49, the plate having acircular opening to register with the ball 45. When so registered, thedrawer is held in stationary position, but when a slight pressure isapplied to the drawer, the ball disengages itself from the rim of theopening, and then the drawer is free to move further. Such a lockingdevice is preferably used, at each extreme movement of the drawer.

A suitable knob 51 may be applied to each drawer.

When it is desired, a drawer 55 may be superposed over the pairs ofdrawers. Preferably, this embodiment consists of a supplemental drawer55, the width of which is substantially equal to the depth of the chairseat and the length of which is substantially equal to the width of thechair seat. The bottom 56 of this drawer is pro'- vided with lockingdevice 40 which cooperates with a brace 13, such as shown in Fig. 6, sothat when the drawer 55 reaches the extent of its movement in eitherdirection or at either side of the chair seat, the locking device holdsthe drawer in relative fixed position. The double-headed arrow 57 inFig. 4, shows the direction of movement of the top or supplementaldrawer 55.

Preferably, the seat 11 extends at its front outwardly beyond the zoneof the legs 12. The seat 11 may have a padding or upholstery applied toit, as indicated by the dot-dash lines 58 in Fig. 2.

Another embodiment is shown in Figs. 7 to 9, in which a tube type chair60 is used. It has a seat 61 preferably padded, a back rest 62, and fourlegs 63. A hinge 64 (Fig. 9) has a sleeve 65 for embracing thecircumference of the leg 63, with each end of the material forming thesleeve extending beyond the same to form a leaf 66.

One Vof the leaves 66 is secured tot one side of the drawer by `spotwelding 66a or screws, Vstaples or rivets, and the other leaf 66 islikewise ksecuredto the adjacent side, the corner 6'7 of the draweriitting Vinto the bight of the two leaves A66. The sleeve 65 embracesthe leg of the chair.

ln order to hold the drawer in extended position, the lower part of thesleeve 65 is provided with four recesses 68, 90 apart forregistration`with cams 69 diametrically disposed of a short sleeve 70. The cams 69lock into the recesses. The short sleeve 7i) has diametrically opposedholes 71 adapted to lock the short sleeve 70 to 'the chair leg. The legof the chair is provided with diametrically disposed holes or bores 73for the passage of the .pin 72, which locks the short sleeve 76 inposition. The larger hinge sleeve 65 is vertically movable on the leg63, the Spaces 74 and 74a vperniitting a Vertical transposition of thesleeves 65.

The general arrangement of the drawers, that is, a pair on a lower tierand a pair on a higher tier, is the same as in the other embodiment,with the front of the drawer 75 provided with a curved part, to enablethe drawer to move past the front leg, or the rear leg when the drawer75 is hinged to a front leg.

A long drawer as in Fig. 1, may be applied to the embodiment of Fig. 7.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

We claim:

l. In a utility chair 'having a horizontal substantially rectangularseat and four seat-sustaining legs depending from the four corners ofsaid seat, two in the rear and two in the front, the combination of a.plurality of drawers, each having a bottom and four side walls with theupper edges of said side walls substantially in a horizontal planeparallel with the respective bottoms thereof, one-half of said drawersbeing pivotally connected to the one of said rear legs and the otherhalf of said drawers being pivotally connected to the other of said rearlegs,

said drawers being arranged side by side to occupy substantially theentire space between said legs and below said seat when pivotedtherebelow and around said rear legs of said chair, the first of saidside walls of each of said drawers extending from a rear leg and beingof a length substantially equalling the distance between a front and arear leg of said chair, the second of said side walls beingsubstantially at right angles to said first wall, extending from saidrear leg and substantially of a length equalling one-half the distancebetween the two rear legs of said chair, the 'third of said walls beingparallel with said first wall, extending forward from the free end ofsaid second wall and being shorter than said first wall, and the fourthof said side walls connecting the free ends of said first and said thirdwalls along an arc with a radius corresponding to the length of said rstwall, said fourth walls of each pair of said drawers defining asubstantially V-shaped recess between said front legs of said chair,said third walls being in close parallel relationship below said seat,said second walls forming a continuous surface between said rear legs,and said irst walls forming a Vpair of continuous surfaces between therespective rear and front legs of said chair when said drawers arepivoted around said rear legs and toward and under said seat of saidchair.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein a Ilocking means is provided foreach of said drawers including a hinge member attached to a respectiveone of said drawers and rotatable around a lrear leg of said chair, saidhinge member being vertically oscillatable along said rear leg andhaving a .pair of opposed recesses in the lower surface thereof, asleeve member below said hinge member rigidly attached to said rear legand having a pair of opposed projections in the upper surface thereoffor reception in said recesses of said hinge member when said drawer ispivoted below said seat of said chair.

References Cited in the leof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 322,547Little July 21, 1885 900,788 Simmonds Oct. 13, 1908 1,798,800 MacKnightMar. 31, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 21,416 Great Britain 1913 244,004Switzerland Feb. 1, 1947 597,694 Great Britain Feb. 2, 1948

